Ruffling-machine



(Model) 7 Sheets- S1ieet 1. W. BEUKLER. RUPFLING MAGHINE.

K012551916} Patented Apr. 4,1882. 1

N. PEYERS Pholo-Lilhngnphcr. Washington, a. c.

(Model) isneets-sneet 2.

' W. BEUK-LER.

RUPPLING MACHINE. No. 255,916. Patented Apr. 4.1882.

N. Prizzzzz o UMI'iphQr, wman m, 0.11

W. BEUKLER.

RUPPLING MAUHINB.

No. 255,916. Patented Apr. 4,1882.

(Model) 7 Sheets-Sheet 3.

N. PrrERs. PholD-Lflhngmphar. Washington, 0.6.

(Model) 7 Sheets-,Sheet 4.

W. BEUKLER.

RUFPLING MACHINE. No. 255,916. Patented Apr. 4,1882.

N ETERS, Photo-Linw n hnr, Walhingmn. D c.

(ModeL) 7' Sheets-Sheet 5.

. W. BEUKLER.

RUFFLING MACHINE. No. 255,916. PafentedApr. 4,1882.

N. PETERS. PholoLimogmpher, Washington, 0. c.

tModel.) 7 Sheets-Sheet s.

W. BEU K L ER.

RUFFLING MACHINE.

No. 255.916 Patented Apr. 4,1882.

- N. PETERS, Plmo-uxhn m ner. Wmhinghan. D c.

A .7 Sheds-Sheet '17 (Mom) w. BEUKLER.

. RUFPLING MACHINE. No. 255,916. Patented Apr. 4,1882.

N. PETERS. FI\oh L'dhogmphur. Washington, D. C,

* UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

W'ILLIAM BEUKLER, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

RU'FFLIN G- MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 255,916, dated April 4, 1882.

Application filed October 10, 1881.

' view of the feeding mechanism, the crimping devices removed; Fig. 3, a rear view, the stitching mechanism removed; Fig. 4, an end view; Fig. 5, a transverse section, showing the feeding mechanism; Fig. 6, a transverse section, showing the presser-foot; Fig. 7, same as Fig. 4, with the end of the frame removed."

This invention relates to an improvementin machines for the manufacture of what is cominonly'termed ruftling-that is to say, the article of manufacture made from a narro .v

strip of fabric shirred, gathered, or plaited by well-known mechanism, and the shirrs, gathers, or plaits stitched by a stitching mechanisin combined with the gathering or plaiting mechanism. In some classes of this manufacture it is required to stitch together two or more of such shirred, gathered, or plaitcd strips, and this is usually done by first gathering, shirring, or plaiting the strips singly,then placing two or more such gathered strips together, one upon the other, and running them thus placed together through a common sewingmachine to run the stitches through the two ormore strips at the gathered edge, thus making a doubled,trebled,or quadrupled ru ffle, as the case may be. In thus manufact iring this class of rufflcs several operations are nee essary-that is to say, each strip must be made complete in itself, then other operations to unite the several strips.

The object of this invention is the construction of a machine which will receive the two or more strips to be gathered, crimped, or

plaited, and perform the operation of gathering, crimping, or plaiting on each strip independently, and vdeliver those strips together, one upon the other, after the gathers, crimps, or plaits have been laid, so that the same (Model.

mechanism which stitches the several strips together will also secure the gathers, crimps, orplaits, thereby saving several operations necessary in the present method of manufactu re.

To this end the invention consists esseningmechanism, whereby not only will the several strips be secured together, but the same line of stitches which secures them together will also secure the gathers, crimps, or plaits,

as more fully hereinafter described.

In representing my invention I illustrate it in Fig. 1 as combined with the plaiting mechanism for which Letters Patent of the United States were granted to me, dated June 11, 1878, No. 204,704; but this I wish to be understood I do simply for illustration, as the mechanism between the gathering or plaiting mechanism and the stitch-making mechanism may be applied in connection with any of the known crimping, gathering, or plaiting mechanisms. I shall therefore only briefly describe the plaiting mechanism. This consists of a pair of plaiting-pins, a a, attached to an intermittently-revolving shaft, M, which al'so'has a 1ongitudinal movementimparted toi t, so as to take the fingers from the position seen in Fig.1 to the position seen in broken lines, same figure, which movement is produced by means of a lever, afloperated by a cam, a, on the drivingshat't ed. The rotary movement is imparted to the shaft a and thence to the fingers by means of a segment, a, working into a pinion, a, on the shaft a the said segment being formed on the'end of a lever, a, to which a vibratory movement is imparted by a cam, a9,,substantially as in my patent before referred to, so that when the fingers a a are advanced they pass onto the material to be plaited, one upon one side and the other upon the other side, thus being rotated the one upon the other, forming a plait in the strip, and after having formed the plait the feed of the machine grasps the so on; but, as before stated, any of theknown crimping, gathering, or plaiting devices may be substituted for that shown and thus briefly described.

The feeding mechanism, which constitutes the essential feature of my invention, is formed between the crimping devices and the stitchmaking mechanism, and is shown full size in Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 detached from the crimping and stitching mechanisms, and represents three feedsthat is to say,mechanism to take the strips from three independent crimping devices and deliver them to the single stitching apparatus.

A represents the bed-plate on which the mechanism is arranged.

Bis acarriage hung to thehed-plate by parallel levers B, pivoted by one end, as at b, to the bedplate, and by the other end, as at b, to the carriage, (see Fig. 5,) so that the said carriage may swing, as from the position in Fig.5 tothat in broken lines,same figure, caused so to move by a crank, B on the driving-shaft connected to the said carriage by a pitman, B (see Fig. 1,) the extent of this movement being made adjustable by changing the throw of the crank or the employment of other known expedients. This carriage 13 carries the three feeding devices, one above the other, representing the lower and 0 representing the upper jaw of the lower feeding device, d representing the lower and d the upper jaw of the middlefeeding device, and eand cre-presenting the lower and upperjaw ofthe upper feedingdevice. The meeting surfaces of thesejaws are toothed substantially like the teedingdevicesin stitching and like mechanism, so as to grasp the material to be fed.

The feeding-jaws each consist of two parts (seen in Figs. 2 and parallel with each other. The upper jaws-to wit, 0 d eare each attached to a vertical slide,f, so that as the said slide is raised, as hereinafter described, the said upper jaws are correspondingly raised. From each olthelowerparts,0de,an arm respectively, 0 (1 0 extends toward the slidef and respectivelybeneath arms a d c on a vertical slide, f, sothat as the said slide is depressed it will correspondingly depress the lower parts of the feed, this movement of the two parts serving to open and close the feed to receive and grasp the fabric. This up-and-down movement ofthe slidesff is produced by a rock-sh aft, f carryingpinions between the two slidesff, working in racks in said slides, one upon one side ofthe pinions and the other upon the opposite side, as seen in Fig. 2. This rock-shaft has an oscillatingmovementimparted toitby meansofalever, f operated by a cam,f*, on the driving-shaft, from which a connecting-rod, f extends into connection with an arm,j so that at each operation of the cam the slide fis raised and the slide f depressed, correspondingly opening the respective feeds to make a new grasp upon the fabric, and then permitted to close thereon. Immediately after the feedjaws have been thus opened they are moved toward the crimping device by the crank B and immediately after they have closed upon the fabric the feed is advanced from the crimping device by the opposite movement of the crank, so that a reciprocating movement is imparted to the feed first toward the crimping device when the feeds are opened, then away from the crimping device and toward the needle when the feeds are closed.

The feeds as thus far described are parallel with each otherthat is to sa v,thelr respective movements are in planes parallel to each other. Hence the crimped strips introduced at a dis tance, one above the other, move parallel to each other; but it is necessary to bring them together at one common delivery, and, as here represented, that common delivery is in the same plane with the central feeding device, and consists of a lower feeding-jaw, h, attached to the same vertical slide as the lower jaw d ofthe central feeding device, and so as to move with thatjaw. The upperjaw, h, is segmentshaped, and hung upon a rock-shaft, h said segment curving backward and upward across thepath of the upper feed, as seen in Fig. 5. At the same time the reciprocating movement is imparted to the horizontal feeds a corresponding rocking movement is given to the segment -h through the rock-shaft h by a rod, h, connected to an arm, 7L3, on said shaft, and to the feedcarrlage, so that the surface movement of the segmenth corresponds to the jaw it below. The jaws 7th, being in the same line as the central feeding-jaws, dd, receive the material through thosejaws d (1 directly, and continue that feed in the same line; but the material which passes through between the upper jaws, e 0, so soon as it arrives at the segmenth, is turned out of its horizontal plane above the segment, and carried downward between that segment and the surface it (see Fig. 5,) until it comes upon the upper side of the central material. Then the two thicknesses of strips or material are taken together between the jaws h h, and thence fed together, one close upon the other.

Below the upper central feeding-jaw, d, is a second segment, t', hung upon a rock-shaft, t", engaged with the carriage by an arm, z' extending from the rock-shaft into connection with an arm attached to the carriage, so that the segment is moved a distance'corresponding to the movement of the carriage, and with the upper central jaw, at, so as to cross the path of the lower feed,the same as segment it crosses the path of the upper feed. Hence so soon as the material which passes between the lower feed-jaws comes against the segment i it will be carried upward between that segment and the stationary feeding-surface i until it comes between that segment and the upper jaw, d, and below the material between the central jaws. From that point onward the central and lower material are fed together between the jaws h h, thus bringing the three strips or material together, one upon the other,

and feeding-allalike. If more than three strips are to be combined, other segments will be employed-as, for instance, if it be four, then the machine will be best made so that a segment shall work in connection with the fourth and upper feed, as does the segment z'work between thelower and central feed. This feeding mechanism may be duplicated to any extent.

Springsl are applied to press the upper jaws downward, and springs Z applied to press the lowerjaws upward. The pressure may, however, be otherwise applied,it onlybeing essential that there shall be sufficient pressure to grasp the material and prevent the feed slipping on the material, substantially as in sewing-machine feeds. Thejaws of each feed operate through a work-plate, substantially like the feed of sewii'ig-machines, m representing the work-plate of the lower feed, m the workplate' of the middle feed, and m the workplate of the upper feed.

It is necessary that the segments, or, as they may be called, auxiliary feeds, should be moved away from the surface in conjunction with which they work immediately after the feeding movement has been made, and before the return of the segment. For this purpose the rock-shaft 71. is arranged at each end in one arm, n, of a lever pivoted at n, the other arm, of, of which extends backward beneath an arm,n ,attached to the upper end of a vertical sliding bar, at. Near the lower end of the sliding bar a a toothed rack is formed upon one edge of the bar, into which a pinion, a works. The said pinion is turned by means of a lever, a, in connection with the lever f, the said lever linked, as at M, to an arm, W, on a rock-shaft, n", on which the pinion n is arranged, so that as the lever f is turned to open the principal parts of the feed, as before described, the vertical slide a will be drawn downward and depress the arm n and raise the segmental or auxiliary feed.

Theroek-shaft It extends across the machine, and is supported in a like lever at both ends, as seen in Figs. 1 and 3. The rock-shaft 12 on which the pinion n is hung, also extends across the machine and engages with vertical sliding rods or arms at each end, so that the power to raise the rock-shaft IL2 is applied at both ends, and a like arrangement is employed to raise and lower the segments.

, Each work-plate is provided with a presserfoot, consisting, as here represented, of three bars-o 0 0 for the lower feed, 0 0 0' for the middle feed, 0 0 o for the upper feed. The presser-foot for the lower feed or work plate comes below the plate, while the middle and upper are above the plate. Hence the movement of the lower presser foot to relieve the work is downward, while that of the middle and upper will be upward. These parts of the lower presser-foot are attached to a bar, 0, running longitudinally across the machine, and attached at each end to a slide, G, arranged to be moved up and down on the vertical guides projection extending from the slides to 0 (See Fig. 4.) The parts of the middle presser-foot are attached to a similar bar, 0", extending longitudinally across the machine, and attached to a vertical slide, 0 arranged to be moved vertically on the same guides, as seen in Fig. 4. The parts of the upperpresserfoot are attached to a like bar, 0 longitudinally across the machine and attached to a slide, 0 on the vertical slides 0 as also seen in Fig. 4.

At the ends of the machine are two vertical parallel slides, P 1?, (see Fig. 4,) which are arranged in suitable guides, so as to be moved up and down, and they are so moved by means of pinions P between the said slides, arranged on a rock-shaft, P the said pinions working into toothed racks on the sides of the slides, so that as the rock-shaft is rotated in one (lirection the slide P will be raised and the slide P drawn downward, and vice versa. From the slide P arms P extend inward beneath the end of the horizontal bars 0 0 (or the which the bars are attached,) so that as the slide P is" raised itwill raise the slides O 0, correspond ing'ly raising the presser'feet thereto attached.

From the slide P a like arm, P extends inward over a projection, P on the slide 0, so that as the slide P is drawn downward it will depress the slide 0, and correspondingly depress or draw down the presser-foot thereto attached.

Each of the presser-feet and bars is provided with a spring, S, the tendency of which is to hold the presser-feet to their work, and yet yield in the usual manner for the presser-feet ofsewing-machines.

The presser-feet are operated by means ofa cam, P, on the driving-shaft through a lever, I", in connection with an arm, P extending from said rock-shaft, as seen in Figs. 1 and 4.

-The presser'feet thus far described are thus worked in connection with the principal parts of the feed. Like presser-feet are required for the segmental or auxiliary feeds. These are represented at r in Figs. 3 and 6 for the upper segment attached to a bar, 1", extending longitudinally across the machine, the said bar being hung in one arm, a, of a lever, the other arm, r ,-of which extends backward beneath a projection, r, from the vertical slide P, as seen in Fig. 2, so that as the vertical slides P are drawn downward to open the lower feed they will at the same time depress the arms r of the levers to which the bar 1" is attached, and raise that bar with the segment-shaped presser-feet thereto attached. A spring, 7 presses extending,

upward beneath the arm 1" to hold down the presser-l'oot with the requisite yielding pressare.

l The parts of the lower segmental-shaped presser-feet,u, are attached to alongitudinal bar, to, extending across the machine and supported on arms a of levers, the other arms, a, of which are provided with springs u, the tend ency 0t whichis to hold the segment-shaped presser-feet u up to their work with the requisite yielding pressure. The said arms a have a stud, a extending outward beneath projections a on the vertical slide P, (seeFig. 2,)so that as that slide is depressed it will correspondingly depress the lower segment-shaped presser-feet.

An auxiliary presscr-foot, t, is arranged beneath the stationary part which formsthe working-surface 71. for the upper segment, as seen in Fig. 6. This stationary part extends outward to the principal feed, and forms a surface, t, in the same plane with the central feed, and so that the work delivered from the central and lower feed will pass directly in be tween the presser-foot t and the stationary surface t. This presser-foot is attached to a bar, 1 extending longitudinally across the machine, and at each end is attached to a slide, t on the vertical guides i From the vertical slides i an arm,t extends forward over a projection, t 011 the said slides t so that as the vertical slide it is depressed it willcorrespondingly move down the auxiliary presser-foot t, the resser-foot being held up to its place with a yielding-pressure by means of a spring, 25

Thus a simultaneous opening and closing movement will be given to the principal and auxiliary presser-feet, and which occurs at the proper time-that is to say, the presser-feet move away from the work immediately before the feed begins and close immediately after the feed has been made, substantially as do the presser feet in sewing machines. After the several strips have been thus brought together they are delivered through the central feed, 61 (I, to the stitching meehanism',w, Fig. 1, representing the needle-hole, and the parallel lines each side represent thefeed of a common stitchmaking mechanism, (here represented as that known as the W1llcox & Gibbs/ too well known to require furtherillustration than its location, as shown in Fig. 1, the outer broken lines representing the work-plate, which is on a plane with the central feed, as seen in Fig. 4. This stitch-making mechanism is geared with the driving-shaft, so as to work simultaneously with the other parts of the machine in the usual manner for ruffling-machines, and substantially as shown in my patent before referred'to.

I have illustrated the auxiliary feeds of the upper and lower parts as segment-shaped, and this I prefer, because of the more convenient shape which it gives for the transfer of the work to the central delivering-feed; but, if preferred, they may be different shape, it only being essential to this invention that the feeds for the respective strips shalldeliver the strips which they receive directly from the ruffling mechanism, oneupon the other, through a common delivery, and while I prefer the auxiliary feed, asbefore mentioned, the principal feeds may be arranged so as to properly receive the respective strips and bring them together through a common deliveryas, for instance,

instead of being parallel with each other, as shown, they may be inclined from the point where they receive other strips to one common delivery.

While I prefer that the delivery shall be from the central point shown, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that it may as well be from the lowerorupperfeeds,oreither, if more than three be used. I therefore do notlimit my invention to delivering from above and below to an intermediate or central auxiliary feed.

I represent an independent feed for sewingmachines, because in some classes of work-as in plaiting, for instance-the feeding mechanism which takes the work from the plaiting device must move sufficiently far to take in a full plait and carry it forward at each movement, which would be a considerably greater movement than would be desirable for the stitch-making mechanism. Hence the stitchmaking mechanism will only feed one stitch at a time, while the delivering-teed will deliver a. considerable length; but in that case the plaiting and the delivering feed work proportionately less frequent than does the feed of the stitch-making mechanism.

I have described this invention as for crimping, gathering, and plaiting, such as known underthe term ruffling. In thefollowing claims I therefore use the term ruffling as embodying mechanism for crimping, gathering, shirring, and like devices.

I claim 1. In a rufliing mechanism, the combination of the following elements: first, two or more mechanisms, substantially such as described, to ruffle the strips respectively given to the said mechanism; second, two or more feeds arranged each to receive one of the milled strips from the said ruffling mechanisms, and together deliver the several ruffled strips through one common delivery, laid one upon the other, to, third, a stitch making mechanism, substantially such as described, arranged relatively to the said place of delivery to run a line or lines of stitches through the said several strips so delivered to the said stitch-making mechanism,substantially as de scribed.

2. In ruffling mechanism, the combination of the following elements :v first, two or more mechanisms, substantially such as described, to ruffle the strips respectively given to the said mechanisms; second, two or more principal feeds to receive the strips, respectively, from the said ruffling mechanisms; third, auxiliary feeds acting in conjunction with the said principal feeds to bring the several strips passing through said principal feed to one common delivery, one upon the other, to, fourth, a stitch-makin g mechanism, substantially such as described, to run a line or lines of stitches through the said several strips so delivered to the said stitch-makin g mechanism, substantially as described.

lIO

3. In a ruffiing mechanism, the combination of the following elements: first, two or more mechanisms, substantially such as described, to ruffle the strips respectively given to the said mechanisms; second, two or more principal feeds to receive the strips, respectively, from the said ruffiing mechanisms; third, auxiliary feeds acting in conjunction with the said principal feeds to bring the several strips passing through said principal feeds to one common delivery, one upon the other, to, fourth, a stitch-making mechanism, substantially such as described, to run a line or lines of stitches through the said several strips so delivered to the said stitch-making mechanism; and, fifth, a feed in connection with said stitch-making mechanism independent of the principal and auxiliary feeds which deliver the strips, substantially as described.

4. In a ruffiing mechanism, the combination of the following elements: first, two or more mechanisms, substantially such as described, to ruffle the strips respectively delivered to the, said mechanisms; second, two or more feeds arranged to respectively take the ruffled strip from said ruffling mechanisms arranged upon a carriage common to all, to which an intermittently-reciprocating movement is imparted; third, mechanism, substantially such as described, to simultaneously open and close said feeds, the said feeds being arranged to deliver their respective strips together, one upon the other, through one common delivery,

to, fourth, a stitch-making mechanism, substantially such as described, arranged to run a line of stitches through the said several strips as they are delivered one upon the other to the stitch-making mechanism, substantially as described.

5. In a ruffling mechanism, the combination of the following elements: first, two or more mechanisms, substantially such as described, to ruffie the strips respectively delivered to the said mechanisms; second, two or more feeds arranged to respectively take the ruffled strip from said ruftling mechanisms arranged upon a carriage common to all, to which an intermittently-reciprocating movement is imparted; third, mechanism, substantially such as described, to simultaneously open and close said feeds, the said feeds being arranged to deliver their respective strips together, one upon the other, through one common delivery, to, fourth, a stitch-making mechanism, substantially such as described, arranged to run a line of stitches through the said several strips as they are delivered one upon the other to the said stitch-making mechanism; and, fifth, a presser-foot for said feeds, arranged to be simultaneously raised from and lowered upon the work, substantially as described.

WM. BEUKLER.

Witnesses:

JOHN E. EARLE, L. D. ROGERS. 

